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The feeling of winning a huge deal is unparalleled. A salesperson spends hours making calls, giving product demos, sending out emails, and making some more calls until the prospect signs the dotted line. Phew! This definitely calls for a celebration.
However, research states that 79% of US employees leave their job because they are under-appreciated. According to a Glassdoor study, 70% of employees note they would feel better about themselves if their managers thanked and appreciated them more regularly.
Sales is a game of motivation. If your salespeople are not valued for closing deals, much less for the effort they put in day-in and day-out, you have a problem in your hands. Believe it or not - 78% of employees are willing to work harder if only they were given more recognition.
Zig Ziglar, the renowned salesman and author, used to say, “Each sale has five obstacles – no need, no money, no desire, no trust.” When you gamify sales wins, these pain points start getting addressed.
Remember, the key to closing more and bigger deals has a team who is 100% committed to success. Gamification of sales wins works excellently because the pillars of successful sales are built on an environment of fun, motivation, enthusiasm, transparency and recognition.
Why should you celebrate sales wins?
Traditionally speaking, human beings have a hard time celebrating professional success. That means despite working hard as an employee, your salespeople are more likely to associate celebration with their personal lives.
Even if they congratulate each other for bagging big clients or getting promoted, smaller week-to-week wins that enable steady business growth are often ignored. Unfortunately, some managers believe celebrating the small wins will distract their teams or invite complacency.
Others feel celebrating simply does not feel meaningful or productive. However, in 2015, organizational anthropologist Judith Glaser said celebrating success paves the way for calmer work environments, creative thinking, and increased focus, even during high-pressure periods.
Let us also not forget human beings are social animals. It is no accident that we call our businesses "organizations" and "companies," where progress and growth rely on the cooperation and camaraderie of many people.
So, when should you celebrate sales wins?
Recognition of your sales team must feel natural and authentic and come from a genuine place of appreciation. Here are a few scenarios where you might want to celebrate sales wins:
- When a new salesperson on the team closes a deal - this is a great way to give them confidence early on.
- When a salesperson's action makes a difference to someone else - for example, taking on their workload (prospecting) so they can deal with a family emergency and bagging the client.
- When your sales team's work has been consistent, applaud their reliability and perseverance to fetch more business continually.
To make it easier for yourself, jot down some guidelines to clarify what does and does not get celebrated. Recognition and acknowledgement bring out the best in people, thereby improving your company’s bottom line.
Today, employees expect their organizations to deliver a productive, engaging and enjoyable experience at the workplace. When you celebrate team success, it brings visibility to the team and individuals. That additionally serves to create a company-wide culture on the value of work.
Eight ways to celebrate sales wins
Sales success is synonymous with being able to drive new lead generation opportunities and close deals. It also entails the ability to adapt to change, regularly take on new challenges, and build ever-lasting relationships with clients. Adding to that thought, here are eight ways you can celebrate wins of your sales team:
1. Ring the sales gong
This is a wonderful idea to execute when offices open, and everyone gets to work post-pandemic. Imagine having giant sales going right in the middle of the floor. Sure, when you ring it, everyone at work can hear, even those who have nothing to do with sales.
In the words of sales presentation skill trainer Patricia Fripp, “Don’t just celebrate closing a sale. Celebrate opening a relationship with equal gusto.”
Additionally, it sends a strong message to the rest of the employees and often motivates un-related departments to do more. Your sales team invests in the growth of your organization. When you ring the gong for scheduling the first meeting with a dream client or closing a team, it is a visible sign of your appreciation.
In the current WFH setup, however, you can use the Compass sales enablement platform to measure your milestones in real-time. Know where you stand against your peers and your own goals. That helps you align and celebrate metrics such as sales quota, NPS, tasks completed, or the number of deals made.
Corporate team building activities don’t always have to be boring. You can sprinkle fun into them using winning sales strategies.
2. Automate commissions and incentives
Irrespective of the commission structure followed in your company; you can hand out a fixed incentive amount if the sales team achieves a specific objective within a limited timeframe. Even though office parties and company retreats are lovely and relaxing, people are most motivated by cash. It is more money in hand after all.
Compass automates commission payouts not just for the sales teams but for the entire organization. The incentive payout catalogue includes global cash payments, gift cards, prepaid cards, financial benefits and offers. Furthermore, you can customize the catalogue based on your requirements.
3. Organize and gamify recognition platforms
The #IAmRemarkable initiative was launched by Google to empower women and underrepresented groups to share their achievements and improve their self-promotion prowess openly. Although the initiative's scope is narrow, incorporate this idea into your processes and celebrate your sales team.
Regular celebrations of the small wins and big wins breathe life into your organization. Celebrating small victories and Bigger achievements, both are impactful and important to share. A culture of recognition keeps everyone aligned to the mission and values which contribute to long-term sales team success.
To gamify contests and milestones, define micro-achievements such as objectives and missions to make the sales targets fun and to engage. Such challenges are a healthy way to gamify goals and KPIs.
The result is a win-win for all teams as it creates an opportunity for collaboration and peer-learning. When you gamify sales goals and win through Compass, you can also reduce staff attrition.
Quoting Jill Konrath, a sales strategist, “Look at sales as an outcome. Not a goal. It is the result of doing numerous things right, from the moment you target a potential customer to sealing the deal.”
4. Set up a Win Wall called the Leaderboard
As per a McKinsey research, praise and recognition go a long way in motivating employees than financial perks or other incentives. Compass rewarding platform Compass makes it easier to recognize and collectively celebrate salespeople's wins.
Leaderboard, a feature of the Compass sales enablement platform enables teams to gamify celebrations. Live contests and projections give visibility into the progress and where they stand. Such recognition platforms are a great way to get everyone involved and appreciated. Plus, it puts the spotlight directly on the salesperson.
The "Praise Wall" can be beamed to a dedicated screen in any public space such as lobby or cafe. Once set up, it serves as a reminder of the team's achievements and compels an exchange of praises publicly, which further helps boost sales team motivation.
Project the wins and applaud the achievements on TV screens for everyone to see the recognition.
Keep the momentum going irrespective of where your team is working.
5. Appoint honorary titles
Similar to the practice mentioned above, but this requires you to run a contest. As you know, the sales culture is highly competitive, and sometimes, a significant driver is simply the desire to be the best.
So, instead of just recognizing specific salespeople on the team for their efforts and handing out rewards, why don't you also give them an honorary title? For instance, whoever achieves the goal first proves their place as "The True Sales Champion of Q3."
This helps the winner and ensures a friendly competition among the team and empowers them to work harder to be at the top next time. Compass allows you to design your own patches, titles and recognitions for the sales teams.
6. Compliance and tax implications of commissions across geographies
COVID-19 popularized the concept of remote working. Today, when teams are spread across geographies, Compass can handle complex sales commissions and incentive plans. Be it flat-rate commission, tiered commission, or milestone-based, you can customize the plans.
Going a step ahead, automate the incentive calculations to enable a fair and error-free payout. As per the geography, Compass handles tax implications and compliance.
7. Automate sales achievements
Every Friday get your sales team to join you on Compass with a beverage of their choice. Ask each person to share at least one big task that they accomplished in the week.
It is an excellent way for your sales team to be informed of each other's activities. Since you have set up a platform for a casual conversation, they could even discuss ideas that can help a salesperson close a deal faster.
This will boost the team spirit and get everyone to work with each other in transparency, rather than in silos.
Regardless of whether the week went well, "talking it out" helps the person go into the weekend relaxed, happier, and victorious.
8. Automate reporting for better performance
Let data and predictive analytics drive your decisions. Configure widgets to track individual participation, regional and team-wise performance, earning trends and leaderboard. For enhanced transparency, Compass gives complete visibility to sales reps and leaders.
These insights enable managers to create personalized incentive programs to improve team performance. When you receive real-time insights and recommendations to correct existing campaigns based on data, you can improve the program ROI incrementally.
Wrapping it Up
Hopefully, this article has given you a broad idea of why and how you must honour your team! A celebration is the cornerstone of social bonding, and there are many best ways to celebrate your sales team's wins, besides the eight ways mentioned above.
But it is important to note that success is not about getting from point 1 to 2. It is about excelling in the way of working that fosters professional fulfilment, business goals, and creativity. Success is like a well-designed wheel and not a straight line.
It is up to you to find good moments to celebrate your team's wins, rather than wait for them to get to a specific destination. After all, they work extremely hard and, especially in the current environment, need to be appreciated and motivated more than ever!
